Directions: Answer the Following Questions in Complete Sentences

Name: ______Date: ______

“from Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad” by Ann Petry

pg. 486-496

Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

While Reading

1.  What does Harriet Tubman do (pg. 487)?

2.  What are the real-life setting and subject of this essay (pg. 488)?

3.  What does the map show (pg. 488)?

4.  What new details about Tubman do you learn here (pg. 488)?

5.  Describe how it might feel to be one of eleven escaped slaves hiding in this attic on the Underground Railroad (pg. 489).

6.  Why does the man slam the door in Tubman’s face (pg. 489)?

7.  What main idea is implied by Tubman’s thoughts at the beginning of this paragraph (pg. 490)?

8.  Judging from the text and this photo of a secret tunnel entrance under an Ohio tavern, what physical sensations and emotions do you think the fugitives would have experienced hiding in the “stations” (pg. 490)?

9.  What elements of the setting contribute to the action of the plot here (pg. 491)?

10.  Tubman tells a narrative of her own here. Why does she tell the story of these real people (pg. 491)?

11.  What does Tubman fear the fugitives might do (pg. 491)?

12.  Why does Tubman tell the fugitives the anecdote about Thomas Sims (pg. 493)?

13.  What main idea is directly stated in this paragraph (pg. 493)?

14.  What prevents the fugitives from turning back (pg. 493)?

15.  What main idea about the weather is directly stated here? Which details best illustrate the main idea (pg. 494)?

16.  Why do you think the author includes this passage from Douglass’s autobiography? How does it support her purpose for writing (pg. 494)?

17.  Judging from his painting, how warmly were the slaves received once they arrived in the North? Explain (pg. 495).

18.  What main idea is implied by the many details the author provides about Tubman’s schedule from 1852 until 1858 (pg. 496)?

After Reading

19.  What does Tubman do when a fugitive wants to go back to the plantation? Explain why Tubman feels she must act this way.

20.  Tubman says, “We got to go free or die. And freedom’s not bought with dust.” In your own words, interpret that statement. Are the results of the Underground Railroad trips worth the risks involved? Why or why not?

21.  What kind of information does Petry provide in this narrative essay that you would not find in an encyclopedia entry about Tubman? Does Petry’s approach give you a better idea of what Tubman was like as a person? Why or why not?